Death mask of Egon Schiele, taken by Gustinus Ambrosi, 1918 (cast 1967)

The plaster mask shows Egon Schiele’s (1890–1918) face in death. He died at the age of only 28 in the early hours of October 31, 1918. The cause of his premature death was the Spanish flue which was ravaging Vienna at the time and had already killed his six-months pregnant wife Edith three days earlier. Gustinus Ambrosi (1893–1975), who was deaf, was an emerging young sculptor. He had great appreciation for the painting of Schiele, whom he called in a letter the “Raphael of Expressionists”, although the two of them had never met in person. And yet, after receiving news of the young painter’s death, Ambrosi managed to go out and take with his own hands Schiele’s death mask on November 2, 1918. Of the original mask, three casts were made, which were in turn reproduced, and have been an integral part of Schiele’s commemoration to this very day.

AK, 2021